Riverside County’s payroll grew almost 11 percent last year, and two retiring executives cashed in a combined $743,000 worth of unused leave.

More than 640 people who worked for the Los Angeles County Fire Department last year earned at least $100,000 in overtime.

And it pays to be an assistant sheriff in Orange County — or a psychiatrist working in the governments of Orange, Riverside or San Bernardino counties.

These and other findings are part of Transparent California’s annual compilation of data on public employee compensation. The government watchdog group, which is tied to a Nevada-based, libertarian-minded think tank, got the data by requesting records from California public agencies as a way to illustrate their belief that current levels of public compensation aren’t sustainable.

“The rising cost of government compensation — be it retirement costs that can be more than 10 times as much as what the average private-sector worker receives or the ability to cash out nearly two years’ worth of unused leave — means Californians’ near national-high tax burden will rise even further in the coming years,” said Transparent California Executive Director Robert Fellner.

The numbers show the pay and benefits for employees of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino counties. In L.A. County, employee compensation rose 7 percent from 2016 to 2017, while in San Bernardino County it grew 5 percent and in Orange County it grew 4 percent, Transparent California found.

During the same period, inflation in Southern California was about 4.2 percent, according to the Dept. of Labor.

Here are some of the key findings in different areas of Southern California:

Riverside County

Public employees in Riverside County earned total pay and benefits of more than $2 billion last year, a nearly 11 percent bump from 2016, according to Transparent California. The median pay for full-time, year-round county workers last year was $66,291, the group found.

Riverside County spokesman Ray Smith said the county and other public agencies “are in difficult financial positions because costs are rising faster than revenue, and California has made counties responsible for more and more state responsibilities.”

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“Historically, Riverside County has generously compensated employees for their hard work,” Smith said. “But over the past few years, the county has constantly repeated the need to reduce pay

Riverside County’s highest-paid employee in 2017 was now-retired Assistant Sheriff Raymond Gregory, who cashed in almost $417,000 worth of unused vacation and other leave for total compensation approaching $681,000, according to Transparent California.

The next highest-paid employee was County Executive Officer Jay Orr, who also retired last year. A former prosecutor and assistant county chief executive who once oversaw the county’s code enforcement department, Orr cashed in roughly $326,000 of unused leave to boost his 2017 total compensation to almost $564,000.

Los Angeles County

According to Transparent California, 209 employees of Los Angeles County received more than $100,000 in unused leave payouts in 2017, with 12 getting payouts of more than $250,000.

The top three leave payouts were: Former Chief Public Defender Ronald Brown — $358,572 — former Sheriff’s Department Capt. Douglas Fetteroll — $315,474 — and former sheriff’s Lt. David Smith, who cashed out $288,950.

Total overtime spending in the county Fire Department rose 52 percent from 2012 to 2017, with 645 department employees getting overtime payouts of at least $100,000 last year, Transparent California found.

The highest overtime payouts went to captains and battalion chiefs, the group said, with Capt. Sergio Burciaga leading the way with more than $322,000 in overtime to boost his 2017 total compensation to just under $519,000.

County spokesman Joel Sappell said: “The Chief Executive Office is aware of the overtime amounts and will be reviewing the matter with the Fire Department in the days ahead.”

Fellner said the department allows vacation days to be counted as hours worked toward overtime.

“The issue is not a lack of solutions. Those have been forthcoming from a coalition of experts, including those from within the firefighting profession, for decades,” Fellner said.

“The issue is a lack of political will for the precise reason an official outlined nearly two decades ago — fear of political retaliation.”

Orange County

Assistant sheriffs and psychiatrists dominated Transparent California’s list of the 10 Orange County employees with the highest total compensation in 2017. Leading the list was psychiatrist Pete J. Farrell, who earned more than $240,000 in base pay and about $60,000 in overtime.

When combined with other pay and benefits, Farrell’s total compensation was about $533,000 last year.

Undersheriff Don Barnes, who is running for sheriff, was second on the list, with a total compensation package of roughly $460,000. Three assistant sheriffs and a sergeant also made the top 10.

Five people on the list are psychiatrists, who also appear multiple times in the top-10 lists for Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Statewide, and especially in the Inland Empire, there’s a shortage of behavioral health professionals, according to a study released in February by the Healthforce Center at UC San Francisco.

San Bernardino County

In San Bernardino County, the median pay last year for a full-time county government employee was $56,476, according to Transparent California. In 2016, median earnings for a county resident employed full-time in the private sector came out to $38,281, the group found.

Sheriff John McMahon topped the county’s list of best-compensated employees, with almost $504,000 in pay and benefits in 2017. Ranking second was Behavioral Health Medical Director Teresa Frausto, whose total compensation came out to more than $482,000.

San Bernardino County’s top-10 list included two officials who lost re-election in the June 5 primary. District Attorney Mike Ramos’ total 2017 compensation was just under $410,000 — he lost to former prosecutor Jason Anderson. Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector Oscar Valdez, who lost to Ensen Mason, had a total compensation package of more than $455,000.

See the numbers

Transparent California compiled public employee compensation data going back to 2011 for by submitting records requests to public agencies across California.

Jeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math. He grew up in Vermont and he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county and state government at The Capital newspaper before love and the quest for snowless winters took him in 2007 to Southern California, where he started out covering Temecula for The Press-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes about Riverside County government and regional politics. Along the way, Jeff has covered wildfires, a tropical storm, 9/11 and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino. If you have a question or story idea about politics or the inner workings of government, please let Jeff know. He’ll do his best to answer, even if it involves a little math.